Hello; new to the forum

Whistle
1

Hello all, new forum member here. I hope I’m posting in the proper place for introductions; I didn’t see any other sub-forum that looked more appropriate.

Anyway, my name is Lee, and I’ve been playing whistles off and on for 35 years or so, but only seriously for the last 12 months or so. I have a collection of Generation and Hohner whistles that I bought from Hart & Churchill on Queen Street in Belfast back when I lived in Ulster for several years as a young man. I taught myself to play initially by listening to Seán Ó Riada records and then by buying books and sheet music from the Armagh Pipers Club, Ceoltoiri Phort-an-Dunain, and of course O’Neill.

One problem that I fell into because there was no one to tell me any differently, is that I started playing left-handed even though I am right-handed. This was not too big of a deal, until about a year ago when I ordered a 3/4-set of uilleann pipes and decided that I really need to play them right-handed. So now I am forcing myself to play my whistles right-handed, in preparation for getting my pipes this summer. I have made good progress practicing with my sheet music, but it is still hard when playing by ear! The habits of 35 years are imprinted pretty strongly on the brain and not easily undone. Oh well, nothing that practice and more practice cannot accomplish.

Cheers all, and thanks for a great forum. I only found it BTW by a link posted on the Uilleann Forum.

2

Did you look into lefthanded sets at all? Not as common, but they’re out there.

Kinda late for me to say all that, though, isn’t it.

3

Learning to play right handed can be done. I am right handed and played left handed. It took some time. But, I did it. For me, the biggest hurdle was remembering to put my right hand on the bottom of a whistle and to the right on a flute. Then slowly playing until it was second nature.

I would work with the whistle in my humble opinion first. If nothing else but to get use to getting your hands to remember where they should go.

Good luck. :smiley:

4

Not at all; I thought about it when I put my deposit down. The pipemaker (Martin Preshaw in Co. Fermanagh) would have made me a left-handed set, but I decided that for the sake of dexterity in ornamentation that I would be better off in the long run to learn right-handed.

5

Thanks; that is exactly what I have been doing and it is working so far. It’s easier learning new tunes, the only time I really have a problem any more is playing tunes that I learned 30+ years ago by ear and the muscle memory in my hands (that’s what I’m blaming it on anyway… :slight_smile: ) still jumps back no matter which hand is on top or bottom. I won’t have my new pipes until this summer so I am pretty motivated to keep practicing my whistles.

6

Welcome!

Whenever I want to play left-handed, I just use a mirror.

7

Hi. Same as you, I’m right handed and accidently learned to play the whistle left handed. I was given a silver flute and was forced to learn that right handed. I can play a simple flute left or right handed but with different technique. I could never figure out how to play the whistle right handed. Oh well. Welcome.

8

Now this is a big problem. It all started when we did not read the Manual or learning material attached to the instrument when it is bought. :laughing:


I am left-handed (sinister) and learned the flute left handed since left hand is my dominant hand.

And i find it hard at first to shift it right handed but through muscle training and muscle memory you can shift it to right hand in short period of time.

Ever since I was a child my mom force me to use my right hand when writing and right hand when using the spoon.

I can still remember her words after soooo loooong. She told me that your penmanship is ugly because your using your left handed.

Now here is my tip. Forcing your self to shift to the right hand will cause you self inflicted psychological inferiority complex.

That is, you feel that you are not better because you are left handed.
This feeling will hinder you to shift to the right successfully…based on experience.

In order to avoid that feeling, you should use a muscle strengthening technique.

It happens when you use your right hand alternately with your left hand.

In that way you will strengthen your right hand/arm/finger muscle memory.

I tried eating with the spoon on my right hand, and if it gets tired ( which is very often as the right hand is weak) shift your left.

In this way you are teaching your self to be ambidextrous.

I also tried brushing my teeth with the right hand…but not recommend… it made my gums bleed hahahaha . :laughing:


If you are carrying weight like a bag you use your right hand first then left hand when it get tired.

Using them both activates a part of your brain that will tell you that your hands have co-dominance.

It is easier for flutist/whistler to shift from left to right compare to pianist and violinist/guitarist as in a whistle both hands are playing notes the way the other hand plays it too.

Unlike in a guitar where the chords are in left and the strum/pluck etc are on the right which is a different coordination.

Similar to piano where the left is not as fast to the right as the left is bass and the right is melody.

Teaching your self to be ambidextrous will hasten the hand shift.

If you also go to the gym, have the instructor assess you. As on my assessment, the left hand bicep and forearm is bigger than my right by 1cm this is because I am left handed.

I asked him how to make it atleast close so the one does not look big over the other.

He told me to use your right hand first then left hand in making the bicep curls.
He DID NOT tell me to do 12 sets on the right and 10 sets on the left.

It is natural to have one more dominant but doing it in co-dominance where both hand share responsibility yield better results and body shapes/cuts than forcing yourself.

The same principle also applies.

9

There have been a few logical explanations of why right handed folks learn left-handed.

  1. The first notes a person learns to play are G, A, B, & C#, so we start playing with our dominant right hands to ensure success.
  2. On a piano low notes played with the left hand, high notes played with the right hand.
  3. Notes get higher from left to right (I tended to hold my whistle at an angle pointing towards my left.)
    My favorite and the one I didn’t do.
  4. They sat across a table from their instructor and did exactly everything that the instruction did. (They just didn’t realize they were doing a mirror image.)

One of my brothers learned to play baseball left-handed. He liked having his own glove.

10

Welcome An Draighean.
Who did you choose to make your new set?

11

Thinking about this, I would say that #1 and #2 were probably contributing factors in my case, and possibly #4 - my Irish friend with all the Seán Ó Riada records played whistle also and I may have been watching him. Too long ago to remember for sure.

12

Thanks (and thanks everyone else too)!


Martin Preshaw.